Sunday, March 20, 2011

Corrupt Brooklyn Democratic Machine

True News Wags the NYP Again

Yesterday True News:Pig Kruger Cries Because He Got Caught and is Going to Jail

Today's NYP Editorial:One sorry senator
(NYP Ed) What a wimp. That would be former state Sen. Carl Kruger, who
in federal court yesterday cried his way through guilty pleas on four
bribery and fraud charges. “I accept responsibility for my actions and
am truly sorry for my conduct,” Kruger sobbed to Manhattan Federal
Court Judge Jed Rakoff. Isn’t that what they all say? Translation: I’m so very, very sorry that I was caught, sir. Now won’t you pretty please go easy on contrite little ol’ me?

Another Amigo Bites the Dust

State
Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., the last of the Four Amigos, says his colleagues
were targeted for being independent and were criticized unfairly,
unlike the Independent Democratic Conference

Kruger Still Gets His State Pension

Former Sen. Carl Kruger’s annual pension is $74,071.80,
and he will be collecting it despite his guilty plea. The provision
that strips lawmakers convicted of felonies in connection with their
public posts that was included in the new ethics law does not have a grandfather clause.

"Baby Talk" From NYT:
"As Mr. Kruger read his allocution and broke down, wiping away tears,
his emotion seemed to spread to Michael Turano, who held his eyes and
wiped away his own tears. . . The people said that the senator wanted
to spare his companion the rigors of a high-profile trial and the
possibility of a much higher sentence, but that the decision was a
complex one and that he chose to plead for other reasons as well. . .

The Baby Talk Plea Coverage

The
FBI agent said that a wiretap, which captured the men in nearly daily
contact, revealed that they “sometimes spoke to one another in baby
talk.. Beside him, separated by one of Mr. Kruger’s lawyers, sat the
gynecologist who court papers suggested was the senator’s intimate
companion; he, too, would weep uncontrollably as he pleaded guilty to a
lesser charge a few minutes later. . . ” "Tearful Senator Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes(NYT)

Also highlighted in the criminal complaint
was “a significant real estate development firm,” identified as “Real
Estate Developer No. 1,” that was “spearheading an over $4 billion,
multiyear, mixed-use commercial and residential development project in
Brooklyn.”

Kruger Lipsky On FBI Tape:

Lobbyist
Richard Lipsky would ask Kruger if he got the memo yet? According to
the FBI that question was asked by Lipsky to make sure Krugrer got the
bribe pay off.

If NY is Hit With A Nuclear Bomb All That Will Be Left Are Roaches and Lobbyists

Teflon Man

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara accused Lipsky of funneling $252,000 from clients as bribes into the pockets of Brooklyn Democratic Sen. Carl Kruger, who was charged with a wide range of corrupt activities.

Lobbying reports on file with the city and state show Lipsky billed at least $28,500 to three clients in March and April. Even if Lipsky is convicted, he may still be able to fall back on his connections: While felons are barred from voting in New York state, they are free to work as registered lobbyists. Former Bronx Sen. Guy Velella worked as a lobbyist after he was released from prison on corruption charges.

*

State Sen. Carl Kruger -- who, the feds charge, directed state money to the Atlantic Yards project, which includes a new Nets arena -- took thousands of dollars in campaign cash from deep-pocketed donors connected to its developer, the team and the arena. (NYP)

1. Ratner Forest City Lobbyist Lipsky Arrested for Bribery

Richard Lipsky, a former Ratner lobbyist who, with Kruger, was charged by feds on March 9 in a $1 million bribery case, legally gave Kruger's coffers $3,500 between 2003 and 2007, and Lipsky's wife, Dorothy, gave $9,000 between 2008 and 2010, state data show. Lipsky was caught on FBI wiretaps allegedly paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Kruger, who is charged with directing state cash to Forest City's $4 billion Atlantic Yards project and other Lipsky clients.* Lipsky already earned $40,600 lobbying this year

2. Ratner Forest City Lobbyist Arrested for Bribery in Yonkers

ZehyJereis in Oct. 2006 was given a one-year, $60,000 real estate consulting contract by FCR in what prosecutors claim was a payoff by the company for getting Annabi to drop her opposition to the development. Jereis had no experience in the real estate business and never submitted monthly work reports to FCR until March 2007 when the feds began dropping subpoenas as part of the Yonkers investigation, prosecutors said. Last year, SandyAnnabi was charged by federal authorities with accepting more than $166,000 in bribes to vote in favor of Ridge Hill and another Yonkers development.

Compliments of a reader, an anime version of Sen. Carl Kruger and “Real Estate Deverloper No. 1 (AKA, it’s fairly ceratin, Bruce Bender of Forest City Ratner) discussing how to use $4 million of worth of taxpayer funds for a variety of projects – including the Carlton Avenue Bridge. All the dialogue is lifted directly from the US attorney’s criminal complaint against Kruger, Assemblyman William Boyland Jr., lobbyist Richard Lipsky et al.

In 2006, Bender, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, was the point man for Forest City's efforts to win approval from Yonkers for a $630 million commercial and residential development. A Yonkers councilwoman, Sandy Annabi, stunningly switched her position on the development, and helped pass it. Last year, Annabi was charged by federal authorities with accepting more than $166,000 in bribes to vote for that deal and another development. A Forest City spokesman said the company backs Bender, and noted, "We cooperated fully with the [Yonkers] investigation, and neither the company nor any of its employees were found to engage in wrongful behavior."

FCR Bender was seeking an amazing $15 million: $9 million for a bridge related to his company's Atlantic Yards project, $2 million for a retail center in Mill Basin and $4 million to renovate a skating rink in Prospect Park. As it happens, Bender's wife sits on the board of the Prospect Park Alliance.Kruger laments that he has but $4 million to offer and asks, "What do you want done?" adding, "I guess the park. F--- the bridge."

Insights into the relationship between State Senator Carl Kruger, lobbyist John Lipsky and developer Forest City Ratner continue.New York Daily News, Crooked Carl Kruger wallowed in Albany's corrupt pork-barrel slush-fund ways An FBI listening device showed just how much money an individual lawmaker can control - and just how routinely a legislator can dole it out, without accountability or sound judgment, to special friends.

Future Fed Prisoner Kruger Still Thinks He is A State Senator?

Sen. Carl Kruger, who was indicted on corruption charges along with Boyland earlier this year, is being accused of injecting himself into the investigation of the death of a 15-year-old Brooklyn student who fell off the roof of a school Tuesday night, the Daily News saysPolitical low: State Sen. Carl Kruger accused of trespassing on crime scene Kruger reportedly stepped behind police lines at the crime scene of 15-year-old's death to make point about underage drinking. (NYDN)